Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Three years ago, a presenter at an international conference compared the printing of currency to alchemy. Although I didn’t hear the message, I read enough about it to see the connection. If you are not familiar with the term, it points to alchemists who tried to turn cheap “base” metals into gold. The idea goes all the way back to Aristotle, who believed that all matter had some combination of the four elements of earth, air, fire, and…

Kerby Anderson The American Psychological Association released a health advisory on social media. In fact, the report offered ten recommendations that involve various forms of monitoring, training, and technical adaptations to blunt certain adverse effects of social media. James Spencer from the D.L. Moody Center was on my program recently to talk about the advisory and also to broaden the discussion about the place of technological advancements in our society. We talked about everything from social media to artificial intelligence….

Kerby Anderson For more than a decade, policymakers have been discussing the problem of “food deserts.” I started writing about this issue three years ago because there are zip codes in low-income neighborhoods without a grocery store that can provide fresh and nutritious food options. Dr. Merrill Matthews recently wrote about this issue and was on my radio program to discuss it. He reminded us that major food chains like Walmart, Kroger, and Whole Foods have announced they will be…

Kerby Anderson Christians have always needed discernment, but we especially need to develop our skill at discernment in our confused world. One book I would recommend is: Why Bad Looks Good: Biblical Wisdom to Make Smart Choices in Life, Love, and Friendship. The author is Dr. Wendy Patrick. She is a career prosecutor with not only a law degree but a master’s degree and a doctorate in theology. Her book helps you avoid falling victim to the hazards of misperception…

Penna Dexter There were many proclamations of faith in God and Jesus Christ from the podium at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Watching the broadcast of the memorial for Charlie Kirk, I didn’t get the sense that government leaders were pandering. To me, it seemed, instead, that many had shaken off the inner restraint they normally have when speaking about God publicly. They weren’t worried about offending non-believers by saying too much. It was as if the murder of…

Kerby Anderson The federal government owns about a third of America. That statistic may sound absurd to you if you are living on the East Coast, but it probably sounds about right if you are living in the Western part of the U.S. Decades ago, I rode by horseback through the Bob Marshall wilderness. It took nearly a week to ride through the one million acres, camping along the way. I have had some guests on my program suggest that…

Kerby Anderson Now that students are back in school, parents sometimes take a moment to look at the textbooks their children are reading. Often, they are shocked at what the authors of the textbooks write. Daniel Buck and Anna Low (American Enterprise Institute) also recommend that you look at the textbook publishers themselves. They argue that the bias in textbooks is real. “Skim through the voting section of McGraw Hill’s civics textbook and you’ll see images from Hillary Clinton’s and…

Kerby Anderson Sometimes the biggest scandal in Washington comes when a politician says the quiet part out loud. That happened earlier this month when Senator Tim Kaine heard something that he said made him nervous. Riley Barnes was nominated to become assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. During his confirmation hearing, he quoted and affirmed a previous speech by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that stated that “our rights come from God our Creator…

Kerby Anderson Two weeks ago, I explained that there are no simple solutions when it comes to violence in America. At the time, I was talking about the horrible news of the school shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school. The latest violent acts once again illustrate this principle. First, there was the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on a train in Charlotte. She had just finished working at a pizzeria when the passenger behind her pulled out a knife. He quickly…

Kerby Anderson The news these few months is full of violence with both shootings and stabbings. It’s worth taking a moment to evaluate and challenge some of the phrases being used by pundits and politicians. One of the most prevalent is to decry political violence “on both sides.” Let’s start with an obvious perspective. Political violence is wrong whether committed by black or white, or whether committed by liberal or conservative. In the past, I have quoted the commonsense wisdom…

Penna Dexter It only takes a few minutes. Just watch an interaction between Charlie Kirk and a college student. You’ll learn some good arguments on an important cultural issue. And you’ll get a lesson in civil discourse done with excellence, mercy and grace.   Commentator, Rod Dreher wrote of the late Charlie Kirk: “True, he could throw some rhetorical punches, but he always did so in the spirit of engaging his opponents, not seeking to humiliate or ‘destroy’ them.” He…